Working to help refugee children and their families to build new lives by facilitating 

their integration into local communities

A BRIEF REVIEW OF LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORK ON CHILDREN

A brief review of domestic, regional and international legislation on children’s rights. It presents a brief review of domestic, regional and international legislation on children’s rights. The understanding of this legal and policy framework is central for an effective advocacy work conducted by RCP on behalf of refugee children in South Africa. It is basically conceived to assist refugee and migrant children in South Africa to ease some of their challenges. The advocate should therefore be informed that the legal and policy framework outlined in this document guide children’s access to their rights in the Republic of South Africa regardless of their status.

ACCESS TO EDUCATION - A POLICY REVIEW REPORT BY RCP - NOVEMBER 2010

Refugee and Migrant Learners: Access to Education: A Policy and Practical Review. Socio-economic policies impacting on lives of Refugee Children and Unaccompanied Minors in South Africa. The report provides an analysis of South Africa’s education policies, specifically focusing on implementation experiences of refugee children and unaccompanied minors access to education.  Access to education is the most important social intervention for a refugee and migrant child. It is through education that refugee children and unaccompanied minors may be able to restart life in and improve their well-being.

RCP ANNUAL REPORT 2008

This annual report highlights the achievements of RCP during 2008. The impact of RCP’s involvement in the defence of refugee children’s rights, and its contribution towards their well-being, is an achievement of which I am extremely proud. This unique initiative has captured my attention throughout the last six years and continues to achieve commendable results.

RCP HANDBOOK ON THE RIGHTS OF REFUGEE CHILDREN IN SOUTH AFRICA

The Refugee Children’s Project (RCP) had developed a handbook targeted at child rights activists and other service providers. The handbook provides a summary of the most essential, legal national and international instruments and a scenario on the rights of refugee children with a practical example of the Gauteng province. It also provides important contacts in dealing with refugees in general and refugee children’s rights in particular.  This publication is part of R CP’s participation in the celebration of the World Refugee Day 2005. This handbook serves to create awareness among children, parents, educators, human rights activists, NGO workers, government policy makers and other interesting parties regarding the rights of the refugees and refugee children in South Africa.

RCP PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR DEFENDING THE RIGHTS OF REFUGEE CHILDREN

Children are the most vulnerable members of society. Their well-being and the protection of their rights is a measure of society’s level of safety as well as success.  Children’s rights have to be protected at all costs.  Hence  the South  African  government has, among other things, ratified the  United Nations (UN)  Convention  on  the  Rights  of  the  Child  in  order  to  engender  a  culture  of  child  protection.  This ratification  presents  a  significant  milestone  because  it  places  children’s  issues  on  government’s agenda. Therefore, the current handbook published by RCP aims  to  improve  knowledge  of  international  and  domestic  legal  framework  regarding the  treatment  of  refugee  children  and  unaccompanied  minor  refugee  children.  It  is  the  first  of  many handbooks  that  the  Refugee  Children  Project  will  compile  to  update  users  of  changes  and/or amendments of  policies  affecting  all  kinds of  refugee  children.  RCP  remains  grateful  to  all  those  who assisted  and  participated  in  making  this  a  reality. 

RCP RESEARCH REPORT 2008 - 2009

The Challenges of Refugees & Migrants in South Africa:  The Case of Women and Children

 This research report provides the findings of RCP research in three broad areas: access to documentation, conditions in Limpopo, and the position of displaced women and children. Key findings are summarised in this report.

RCP ANNUAL REPORT-2007

This report summarises all activities implemented by the Refugee Children's Project (RCP) during the 2007 financial year. The report is articulated in four majors sections. The first section is the highlight of year through the report of the chairman. The chairman's report concentrate not only on the achievement realised during the implementation of the activities but also the difficulties endured by the organisation throughout the year. The second part of the report is the report by the director. It covers the background of the organisation and explains the programmes implemented during the financial year. The third section is the report on all activities implemented during the 2007 year. The last section focuses on the planning for the coming financial year (2008).  The annexure to this narrative report is the financial statement as established by the registered accountant.

RCP WORKSHOP REPORT ON ACCESS TO EDUCATION FOR REFUGEE CHILDREN IN SOUTH AFRICA JULY 2008

RCP organised a workshop on “Rights to Education” on 18 July 2008. This workshop included participants from the Gauteng Department of Education, Principals and Teachers around Gauteng, Parents‟ Forum (refugee and immigrant parents), and also two Principals from Durban who have a high number of refugee learners in their schools in Durban. A range of other stakeholders working with refugee children in South Africa were also represented. During the workshop, issues related to educational rights of refugee and immigrant children, as well as other issues negatively affecting refugee children in schools were explored. Many ways of finding possible solutions to these challenges were also discussed. A brief introduction of RCP, its mandate and achievements in assisting Refugee and immigrant children was presented to participants

WORKSHOP REPORT ON ACCESS TO SOCIAL SECURITY FOR REFUGEES IN SOUTH AFRICA APRIL 2010 BY RCP AND CORMSA

National Seminar on ‘Promoting Access to Social Security and Livelihoods for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa’. This seminar was organised by the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) and Refugee Children’s Project (RCP). Having realised the challenges that refugees, asylum seekers and migrants experience in accessing social security and promoting livelihoods in the country, RCP and CoRMSA decided to bring together researchers, practitioners and policy makers to:

                                            •  Deliberate on issues of social security as they affect migrant communities in South Africa,

                                            •  Consider how these communities can access and sustain their livelihoods in the country